


A Single Book

by HyourinmaruIce



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), The City Of Dreaming Books
Genre: Book - Freeform, Books, Gen, Hidden libraries, Odd, The City of Dreaming Books - Freeform, strange jellyfish, tunnels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2013-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 06:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HyourinmaruIce/pseuds/HyourinmaruIce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle wakes up in a world she's never seen before</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Single Book

**Author's Note:**

> When I was reading A City Of Dreaming Books by Walter Moers, I kept being… repeatedly, reminded of Belle! I highly suggest that any Bibliophile and Belle lover read it. I adored the book and it was excellent. This is a crossover…

Belle knew many things. She had read many books in her lifetime, she'd interpreted many maps and assorted charts that layed out the precise dimensions of whatever place she wanted to know of. Today she was at a loss. She didn't know this place, nor did she have the information she needed to do anything. There were no books in this place... these catacombs. At least there wasn't in the small five foot stretch she could see on either side of her.

The tunnel was dark and wet. The breathe from her lungs clung to her as she shivered in the depths. She wasn't sure how she had gotten here, she just knew that she was here. She didn't know why she here either.

Slowly, her clothes clinging to her from the damp air, she lifted herself off the ground. Her brown hair hung around her face in tendrils, her eyes glazed with thoughtful processes. Her hand lightly traced the wall, it's edges were rough from natural processes, but there was a bit of smoothness to them that indicated someone came through later with tools.

She pushed away from the wall and steadied her quaking feet. Her stomach rolled with the movement, but she quenched the need to hurl. She needed to get out of here...

Her mind began to clear, her thoughts her own once more as she reclaimed her body bit by bit until she stood and breathed calmly. 

Her eyes soon adjusted and she could see farther, perhaps twenty or so feet. Roughly fifteen feet away, she could see an animal stuck to the wall. It was interesting, and it glowed in the dark. She tilted her head and considered it for a second, it looked like a jellyfish.

She advanced towards it, her pace brisk but not fast. As she drew close, she realized there were more down the line, they were placed sporadically here and there. Each was close enough to one another that it made the others visible to her.

Perhaps if she followed them... she would be closer to getting out of here.

Her feet took her along the trail with no though of her own, her pace increased as the luminous jellyfish appeared closer and closer together. 

She walked for what felt like hours, each step bouncing her being and awakening her mind. She felt the incline of the tunnel as her legs began to burn. She was heading up... this had to be a good thing. 

And then she hit a different part of the tunnels she'd been walking in. Along each side of the endless catacombs were bookselves. Filled to the brim with books. The air was crisp and dry for once, she'd left the damp behind in the tunnels below. 

It was warm, much warmer than before, and her head felt lighter as the air filled to the brim with dust and bookish leftovers. She stopped walking. 

This would have been an excellent find had she actually known where she was. These books... these were odd and there wasn't one she knew'd read before. There were such authors as: Asdrel Chickens, Aliesha Wimperslake, Elo Slooty, and Rimidalv Vokoban. One of her favorite names ware Doylan Cone, the book name being Sir Ginel. Yet another author had a fascinating name of Selwi Rollcar, Belle was in a Wonderland... perhaps Jefferson wouldn't appreciate the euphemism. 

She began walking again, gently running her hand along the spine of the books she passed. There were no sounds around her, just her gentle breathing filling the empty library she found herself in. The walls became smoother, more refined as she went along. Books, more books, endless books that she itched to pick up and read.

Now was not the time though, she needed to know where she was. She needed to know where she was going and how to leave... and how to come back. Oh most certainly how to come back. 

As her continued traveling in the tunnel brought her higher and higher, the air began to clear and the tunnels grew brighter. Less jellyfish populated now, the natural light of the tunnels being plenty to lead her forward. A single book stood out amoung the rest as the light in the tunnel grew to the point that it was almost as bright as it might have been outside, the book was titled: The City Of Dreaming Books by Optimus Yarnspinner. It was elegantly bound with green leather and a golden trim twirled up and around the side. 

She smiled and gently tugged the book from the shelf, perhaps just one for the road.


End file.
